It isn't clear to me whether Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer bothered to attend the opening of the new Panmure Transport Centre on Saturday. But he didn't really need to, given that he could get what he needed -- his name in the paper -- by simply sending a press release to reporters on Sunday morning.

The release declared that "ratepayers should be concerned at seeing a bevy of heavies shadowing the Mayor" at the station opening. Brewer's few minutes typing earned him this exquisitely passive-voiced intro in the Herald this morning:

Questions have been raised about the level of security surrounding Auckland Mayor Len Brown during his first public appearance of the year.

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer said ratepayers should be concerned at seeing a "bevy of heavies" shadowing the Mayor at the opening of the new $17 million Panmure Transport Interchange on Saturday.

The story repeats most of the contents of Brewer's press as quotes from him:

"I don't believe ratepayers should be funding security guards to surround the Mayor on such occasions. A few hecklers and peaceful demonstrators exercising their democratic right is no justification," he said.

"It's an unprecedented sight to have a New Zealand mayor surrounded by publicly-funded heavies to open a suburban railway station."

You have to read quite some way down the story to discover that the seven security guards (which seems a more accurate term than Brewer's "heavies") at the station were not hired by the mayor's office, but by Auckland Transport, whose spokesperson said it was standard practice for the opening of a station, for safety reasons, and given the presence of a government minister (Associate Transport Minister Michael Woodhouse).

This does seem plausible. The Herald's video of the opening shows quite a crowd of locals enjoying their sunny day out at another new, modern station for the Auckland rail network:

On the other hand, Brown does look jumpy in parts of the video and it could be that minding him was part of the the security guards' duties. Because some of the handful of people who came to Panmure to protest Brown seem fairly weird.

Dick Cuthbert may have a long history of protest, but I don't think he does his own reputation any credit by following Len Brown around with a placard demanding to know if the mayor is a "sex addict". Another banner, visible in the photograph in the Herald, accuses him of being a "love rat" and features a series of pictures of the mayor morphing into a rat.

Everyone has the right to protest as they wish, but I trust I'm not alone in feeling that these things are offensive, and irrelevant to the issues I want to see addressed in Auckland. Like, say, the modernisation and improvement of the city transport network, which is actually what Saturday's event was about.

The Herald was slow getting the piece online and I did wonder whether Brown had indeed got ahead of himself in announcing policy. But you can read the column for yourself: it's simply consistent with the positions taken by Brown and his council for a long time, as Councillor Arthur Anae wearily explained in his Morning Report interview alongside Brewer. It does not, as Brewer's deranged press release claims, show that the mayor is "out of control and frankly doesn’t care".

As Simon Wilson wrote in Metro, Brewer is a policy lightweight who lacks the leadership skills to be the unifying centre-right figure he wishes he was. His press release-driven populism is really all he has. So it's a given that there will be more of it. Ditto from failed mayoral candidate and advocate of Solo Passion Stephen Berry, who is promising 35 more days of the same leading up to the Len Brown Stand Down march (Facebook event page here) on February 22. Oh joy.

It's hard not to feel sympathy for Penny Hulse and the other productive Auckland Councillors: once for the way Brown's stupidity compromised them, and twice and thrice over for the way their work will be impeded this year by the cranks and self-seekers who cannot see past their pursuit of the mayor. Auckland needs to get some big things done in the next three years. We can can only hope the city will be allowed to move on.

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Hehe Simon pulling another heavy hit again I see this time against Cameron Brewer. Ah well least it wasn't Chris Fletcher or Mike Lee like last year when Simon wrote on both of them.

As for this:

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Penny Hulse and the other productive Auckland Councillors: once for the way Brown’s stupidity compromised them, and twice and thrice over for the way their work will be impeded this year by the cranks and self-seekers who cannot see past their pursuit of the mayor. Auckland needs to get some big things done in the next three years. We can can only hope the city will be allowed to move on.

After a comment our Deputy Mayor left behind when I picked up a remark from Greg Presland I say Penny and the other senior councillors are ready to go and will be taking no prisoners to those cranks and self seekers as you put it Russell.\

The various committees have their briefs and their jobs to do (and some of those committees will have very heavy work loads). Speaking personally I am in no particular mood for cranks and self-seekers either. Unitary Plans, Area Plans, Transport Plans and plenty other things to keep one busy for most of the year and have no time for the cranks

Dick Cuthbert may have a long history of protest, but I don’t think he does his own reputation any credit by following Len Brown around with a placard demanding to know if the mayor is a “sex addict”. Another banner, visible in the photograph in the Herald, accuses him of being a “love rat” and features a series of pictures of the mayor morphing into a rat.

Puritanism is a sin against human nature, and the worst of it is that puritanism is the most leering and prurient of world views. Far from wanting to keep sex in the private sphere, the puritans can't wait to drag it out in public. Puritans are the least buttoned-up people in the world. They can't wait to pin a scarlet A for adultery on someone's clothing, or hold a public humiliation ritual.

There's certainly a strong argument to make that Cameron Brewer is a self-serving knob with no basis for his complaints, but Len Brown's interview on Morning Report really didn't make that argument. It was a weird excursion into prepared phrases and corporate speak, in ways that were honestly unnecessary. Was he still half asleep and on autopilot, or was this the result of some ham-handed crisis management training that has sapped his ability to speak normally?

I'm sorry, but I had to follow that Solo Passion link because, still being in the process of recaffeination, it reads to me like the title you'd give an organisation advocating for the rights of wankers, and I was completely unaware there was any threat to the right to pleasure oneself.

They slate Brown for hiding away (during the New Year break, to be fair) and then slate him when he makes a public appearance. It's confusing.

You want consistency? From the likes of the same Cameron Brewer who was ardently in favour of better public transport whilst the head of the Newmarket Business Association but, since being elected, has fought to neuter bus lanes along Remuera Road as well as arguing stridently against the Core Rail Link being any kind of priority? You really are confused :)

I don,t buy the description of Graham McCready as being a retired accountant at all, considering he was himself brought before the court over tax issues not so long ago. There are far more appropriate diagnoses and explanation of the man. I would have thought National radio might have been a bit better at putting these privet prosecutions he brings In context, by giving a clearer picture of the motivation.

The protestors (and they're barely plural) are quite useful in one regard. Their banners remind us that the Brown-haters are enraged and outraged by sex, not corruption.

Brown should indeed be challenged on his too close relationship with Sky City, but that will remain in the background as long as the "Band of Brewers" are more interested in his private relationships instead.

I wonder why Cameron Brewer doesn't want to focus more on politicians being too close to corporates like Sky City ...

I wonder why Cameron Brewer doesn't want to focus more on politicians being too close to corporates like Sky City ...

Someone I know who works for SkyCity pointed out the other day that handing out free upgrades is so ridiculously common, it's not something most hotels even keep a record of. Cheaper rooms tend to be overbooked, so moving people to more expensive rooms for free makes sense.

There are plenty of people in the public eye who have benefitted from gifts from SkyCity in the last few years, and honestly those gifts far outweigh a few free upgrades.

I can safely say: Graham McCready, is a convicted blackmailer, on the internet. That is because he is. Hard to understand why that’s not relevant to the big media, when they report on our judicial systems being used as a toy.

I can safely say: Graham McCready, is a convicted blackmailer, on the internet. That is because he is. Hard to understand why that’s not relevant to the big media, when they report on our judicial systems being used as a toy.

It gets mentioned in most articles in the Herald whenever he fires up a new prosecution. He’s been done for tax fraud, too, which also mostly gets a mention. The media doesn’t give him a pass on his convictions.

ETA: TV3 thought it worthy of putting into the second sentence in their profile of the man.